Cause Of Speeding

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What is speeding? How big a factor is speeding in serious and fatal crashes? Speeding - which encompasses excessive speed (i.e., driving above the speed limits) or inappropriate speed (driving too fast for the prevailing conditions) - is unquestionably recognised as a major contributory factor in both the number and severity of traffic crashes (World Health Organisation, 2008). As a vehicle’s speed increases, so does the distance travelled during the driver’s reaction time (reaction distance) and the distance needed to stop (braking distance). Also, the higher the speed, the greater the amount of kinetic (moving) energy that must be absorbed by the impact in a crash. Therefore, as well as being identified as a causal factor in around…show more content…
During the 1970's energy crisis, the maximum speed limit was reduced across the United States of America (USA) from 70 miles per hour (113 km/h) to 55 miles per hour (89 m/h) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration board issued a special report, pointing out that this reduction in maximum speed had resulted in a 16.4 percent drop in fatalities. In 1987, the USA lifted the speed limit on rural interstates to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), which led to a 17 per cent rise in fatalities. A report appearing in the American Journal of Public Health in 2009 has found that a 3.2 per cent increase in road fatalities was attributable to the raised speed limits on all road types in the United States, resulting in 12,500 more deaths between 1995 and…show more content…
Studies of the relationship between the survival of a vulnerable road user and vehicle impact speed (the speed at which the vehicle was travelling when it hit the vulnerable road user) show that small increases in travel speed can result in large increases in braking distances and impact speed - substantially increasing the risk of a pedestrian, motorcycle, bicycle rider, or baby in a pram being killed or seriously injured. Let’s take the example of Sam – the bicycle rider in Question 3. If Car 1, travelling at 50 km/h, brakes when Sam is 29 meters away, there will be enough space in which to stop without hitting Sam. If Car 2 is travelling at 60 km/h, when Sam is 29 meters away and the driver brakes at the same point, Car 2 will be travelling at 44 km/h when it hits Sam. Does it make a difference if a vehicle is hit from the front or side? In addition to speed greatly increasing the risk of severe or fatal injuries, a number of studies show that side impact or ‘T-bone’ crashes are only survivable by passengers in a vehicle at much lower speeds than frontal crashes. This means that controlling speed at intersections is critical, to reducing crashes and casualties in areas where this type of conflict may
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